The trial is over.
And the judge ruled for the city.
But the division of court costs and legal fees for the case of the city of Bradenton Beach and ex-mayor Jack Clarke versus six former volunteer board members for violating Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law is undetermined.
The mayor and commissioners met July 26 in a special meeting, followed by a shade meeting, to discuss how to a proceed to a hearing for sanctions — legal fees and court costs.
A shade meeting allows a government body to privately meet with council to discuss litigation strategy, settlement negotiations or expenditures.
Following the closed portion of the shade meeting, the commission approved 4-0 a motion to “pursue any and all remedies available to the city of Bradenton Beach.”
Commissioner Randy White was absent with excuse.
At the conclusion of the July 15-19 trial at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas ruled in favor of the city and Clarke.
However, he allowed time before another hearing to determine sanctions.
The suit, filed by the city and Clarke in August 2017, alleged Sunshine Law violations by former P&Z board members Reed Mapes, John Metz, Patty Shay and Bill Vincent, and Scenic Waves Partnership Committee members Tjet Martin and Rose Vincent, all of whom were members of the now-defunct grass-roots group Concerned Neighbors of Bradenton Beach.
Clarke and the city, represented by attorney Robert Watrous and paralegal Michael Barfield, successfully made their case that the board members violated the Sunshine Law by discussing city matters at CNOBB meetings and through emails, texts and phone calls.
“Clearly, public business was discussed at many, and virtually, all of the CNOBB meetings,” Nicholas said in his ruling July 19. “This is not a close call.”
By the time the case went to trial, all defendants but Metz represented themselves, citing climbing legal costs.
The defendants said as of May 31 and prior to the trial, their combined costs for the suit were nearly $250,000.
At the July 26 meeting, city treasurer Shayne Thompson provided the commission with a report stating the city’s costs and fees had reached $326,306.08 before the trial.
City attorney Ricinda Perry said with the addition of the trial and her costs, the city’s costs will rise to about $450,000.
She said before the case went to trial that the city made an offer that would allow the defendants to each pay fines of $500 and admit they violated the Sunshine Law to end the matter.
“The city offered so many chances for everyone to move forward,” Perry said. “Those offers were rejected, knowing that attorney’s fees were mounting.”
Barfield said July 26 the city’s legal expenses reflect the struggle getting the defendants to submit their records for the case.
“A significant portion of the efforts of the fees incurred by the city related to what we didn’t know,” he said. He added that the city had suspicions the defendants were withholding evidence, which wasn’t supported until witness Michael Harrington, former webmaster for CNOBB, provided a flash drive containing emails exchanged between the defendants that had not previously been submitted.
Barfield also noted that Nicholas found the claims and evidence put forward by the defendants to be “‘contrived, after-the-fact and not credible.’”
“Those, we believe, are the magic words for sanctions that will be imposed by the court, when the court is fully aware of the efforts the city made to try and resolve this case, pretrial, and those offers were rejected by the defendants,” Barfield said. “We think we are well-positioned to recover, if not all, a significant portion of the city’s fees.
Would love to read this as we live in pines park for the winter